


In the Meadow Beyond

by tuppenny



Series: Scars [8]
Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Married Life, Modern AU, References to Sex, cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-08-09 18:42:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20123071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuppenny/pseuds/tuppenny
Summary: Jack and Katherine travel to Ireland together.(This one, too, spoils the ending of the first story in the series)





	In the Meadow Beyond

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place maybe 10 - 15 years after [Promise You'll Write](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19941832) and ties directly into that.

Katherine watched Jack’s face closely as the plane flew ever lower, skimming the rolling green hills and subdivided meadows that grew crisper by the second. “Penny for your thoughts?”

He startled slightly, then turned from the window, the corners of his eyes creasing as he smiled. “You, of course.”

“Flatterer,” she grinned, and he reached to hold her hand before shifting his attention back to the landscape below.

They were here for vacation, their first together as a married couple. Unless you counted their honeymoon, which she didn’t—she was making a scrapbook of all of their wedded “firsts,” and she wanted this trip in there. Jack had suggested “first time to Ireland” instead, but she’d argued that set a dangerous precedent.

_“Am I supposed to put all our first visits to new places in there? Should I make a ‘first trip to Circuit City’ page, too?” _

_He’d snorted. “No, and I’ll tell you why. First of all, that’s ridiculous. And second of all, that ain’t a trip we’ll ever take together, because they went bankrupt years ago.” _

_A wrinkle appeared between her eyebrows. “I thought that was Best Buy?” _

_“Nah,” he said, chewing on the wooden end of his paintbrush. “That one’s still around.” _

_“Great, now I’m sad about Circuit City,” she huffed, placing stickers on a page with a photo of them holding hands in an apple orchard. “I bought my first CD there.”_

_“Oh, Ace,” Jack sighed, “For someone who’s all about the promise of the future, you sure are stuck in the past.” _

_“What, and you aren’t?”_

_“Nope.”_

_“Fine, then explain to me why we’re going to Ireland, because apparently it’s not to trace your ancestral roots.” _

_“That was just a cover,” he teased, setting his paintbrush aside and walking up behind her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and resting his head on top of hers. “We’s really goin’ there ta drink all the Guinness I c’n stomach.” _

_“Liar,” she said, wiggling her head ever so slightly. “You hardly drink at all anymore—I can't even remember the last time you had a beer. You’re a nostalgic sap, and you know it.” _

_“Maybe,” he replied, moving to lip gently at the shell of her ear. “But I’m your nostalgic sap, and you love me.”_

_She’d closed her eyes and smiled, reaching up to grasp his folded arms. “I really, really do.” _

They caught the airport bus into town and checked into their hotel, exhaustion overtaking them on the way. It was late enough that they could call it a day, and so Katherine hopped in the shower while Jack went for a brief walk to ease the soreness in his back. He popped into a nearby convenience store to buy snacks in case he woke up hungry in the middle of the night, and between the cashier’s Dublin accent and Jack’s exhaustion, it took him three tries to understand that the man was asking if he wanted a receipt. By the time he got back, a bag of mint pastilles and a box of crackers clutched in his hands, Katherine was already fast asleep.

Jack smiled to see that although she’d stayed awake long enough to put her pajamas on, she’d nodded off before she could crawl under the covers. He smiled even wider when he realized that she’d probably been waiting up for him—or trying to, anyway. He bent to kiss her forehead before readying himself for bed, enjoying the luxury of using a bathroom he’d never have to clean. 

“Alright, love, let’s get you tucked in,” he murmured softly, scooping her up so that he could pull back the duvet. Her arms automatically flew to wrap around his neck, and he felt a flush of happiness as his sleeping wife _(his wife!)_ resisted his efforts to detach her.

“You ain’t makin’ this easy on me,” he chided, but he gave up trying to settle her on the right side of the bed. Instead, he repositioned himself so that he could slip in sideways and lay her down next to him, making sure her head was resting on one of the fifty thousand pillows the hotel had provided. Katherine smacked her lips and shifted her shoulder side to side at the motion, but her grip on him stayed firm. He brushed a wisp of hair from her cheek and kissed her softly, suddenly overwhelmed by how lucky he was to be here, sharing this adventure—sharing his life—with his favorite person in the world. “Sleep tight, girlie,” he whispered, and let himself drift.

*

“Rise and shine, buttercup!” Katherine said cheerily when she looked over to see Jack was awake. 

“Nnngh,” he groaned, stretching his arms and then folding one over his eyes. “What time is it?”

She glanced up at the clock. “Eleven.”

“Mmph,” he said, rolling onto his stomach and burying his face in a pillow. “Don’t wanna.”

Her lips twitched in amusement. “I haven’t even suggested anything.” 

“Well, good, ‘cause I don’t wanna do anything,” he mumbled, groping for his glasses. “Too much work.” 

“We’re on vacation, babe,” she reminded him. “No work allowed.”

“Good,” he yawned, lifting his head to put on his glasses. “Wanna have sex?” 

She burst out laughing. “You’re impossible.”

He flopped back into the pillows and gave a lazy, self-satisfied smile. “And you’re irresistible. Come kiss me?”

*

They boarded a train out into the countryside later in the day. They’d considered driving, the way Katherine’s father had the last time she’d been to Ireland, but rejected the idea once they realized that, being native New Yorkers, they’d be a danger to everything within spitting distance of the road.

So a train it was, and it wasn’t long before they were stepping out into the green of County Wicklow and the rolling mountains that stretched beyond and beyond, disappearing into the mist.

“It’s beautiful,” Katherine breathed, and Jack reached for her hand to give it a little squeeze.

“Yeah.” 

She looked up at him and smiled. “Let’s go exploring. Are you up for an adventure?”

“With you?” He grinned. “Always.”

Once Katherine had photographed all of the trail maps at the ranger station, picked up two copies of each of the park’s brochures (one in English, one in French –so she could practice–), refilled her water bottle, and slathered sunscreen on both of them (“Ace, it’s completely cloudy.” “It’s about the UV rays, Jack, not the sunlight.” “Don’t the rays travel in the sunlight?” “I don’t know, Jack.” “Well, I think they do. That’s kinda the point, right? That’s why we don’t put sunscreen on at night. No sunlight, no UV rays.” “There’s _some _sun out, though. It’s not as much as usual, but—oh, I don’t know! I didn’t major in physics; go ask Specs. And hold still, I have to get the back of your neck.”), they finally started out on their hike.

“It really is as green as they say,” Katherine marveled, hands on her hips, breathing heavily from their climb. “I think we pretty much have this place to ourselves, too. I guess coming on a cloudy weekday is the way to go, huh?”

“Mmm,” Jack said, surveying the valleys around them and the trail that disappeared over the next crest.

“Jack?” Katherine leant forwards to see him more clearly, and her brow furrowed. “You… why do you have that look on?”

“What look?” Jack swung to face her, his eyes dark.

“Your angry look,” she said, confused. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?” 

He sucked in a sharp breath and strode towards her, gripping her shoulders tightly. “You’re mine, Katherine. Do you hear me? _Mine_.”

She blinked rapidly, completely taken aback. “What is going on with you?”

He dropped his hands and clenched them into fists, turning back to the edge of the mountain.

Katherine saw the tension in his back and watched his fists shake slightly. “Jack?”

He whirled back around. “Let me fuck you out here. In the grass.”

“_What?”_ She took a step backward, making her next words as measured as possible. “You’re scaring me a little, Jack. I’m going to need you to explain this, okay?”

He deflated suddenly and scrubbed his left hand over his face. “Yeah, right. I’m sorry. It’s stupid. I sounded pretty crazy just now, huh?” He gave an awkward laugh and stared at his hiking boots. “Let’s just… forget about it.” 

“I didn’t say no,” she reminded him, raising one eyebrow. “Just that I needed an explanation.” 

His eyes widened. “You…”

“Just need an explanation,” she said archly, giving him a sultry half-smile. 

He took a step towards her, gesturing even as he moved. “This landscape, it’s—it’s like what you sent me on your first postcard. From Dublin. Right after college, when your father—” He squeezed his eyes briefly shut to shove away the visceral emotional memories of that month without Katherine, when she’d been in Europe and he’d been… he’d been without her, completely without her, because her father had taken her to Europe and taken her laptop and…

He shook his head. “There were these green hills on the front of the card, and I was so overjoyed that you’d written and so angry with your father for taking you away from me, for ripping us apart…” He growled, and she stepped in close, holding his hands in her own and brushing her thumbs over his knuckles.

“I’m here now, though.” 

“Yeah,” he breathed, calming slightly. “You are. But back then I… I saw that image, and I was so angry that he’d taken you away—that he’d taken you across an _ocean_ to keep me away from you—that I swore, I swore right then in my dingy little apartment, that someday I’d bring you back here, lie you down in those soft green hills, an’ make you _mine._ I wanted ta show him that you belonged ta me, not him, an’ that he couldn’t…” Jack flushed and stared down at their joined hands. “Ah, it’s possessive an’ stupid. I’m sorry, Ace.”

She tilted her head and pursed her lips, considering him. “I mean… it’s possessive, yeah, but sometimes that’s kind of a turn-on for me, actually.” Jack blinked, and she shrugged. “And you’re also right that it’s completely, utterly juvenile, but then again, one of the best things about being an adult is that you’re finally old enough and stable enough to live out some of your adolescent fantasies. The non-destructive ones, anyway. Might as well indulge them occasionally, don’t you think? Give your younger self something to look forward to?”

Jack’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”

She wiggled her eyebrows at him. “Find a private place where you’re not going to have me lying on cowpats or sheep dung or sharp rocks and sure, I’m game.”

A surprised laugh burst out of Jack, and then he threw his arms around her and hugged her. “Thanks for not bein’ mad at me, girlie.” 

“Naaaah,” she said, patting his back. “I did ask you earlier if you were up for an adventure, and this counts as pretty adventurous, I think.”

He gave her a delighted grin and then kissed her full on the mouth. “I love you, you know that?”

“I do,” she said, amused by his reaction. “And I love you, too, you sweet, silly goose.” 

Jack looked dazedly down at Katherine, pulling off his baseball cap to run his fingers through his hair and then jamming the cap back down. “Are you even real?” 

She laughed. “Come on, buttercup. We’ve got a meadow to find.”

**Author's Note:**

> Might go write some original stuff now, guys. We'll see.


End file.
